San Francisco, under its "green mayor" Gavin Newsom, has since 2007 perpetrated a greenwashing scam upon city gardeners. The city, known for its environmentally sound practices and commitment to a precautionary principle approach to dealing with environmental hazards, has deceptively and fraudulently been giving away free "organic Biosolids
compost," that is actually nothing but toxic sewage sludge from San
Francisco and eight other counties, "composted" by the giant waste
handler Synagro.

It was designed as a PR stunt and worked well in that regard when the results were fed to the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle.
Both papers filed stories on July 28th, and both papers reported that
the SFPUC staff would be bringing this controversy before the five
citizens who make up the SFPUC Board of Commissioners, appointed by the
Mayor, and who have never, despite the year-old public controversy,
taken a close public examination of the sludge-to-gardens issue in any
of their frequent meetings. But with two PUC commissioner meetings
scheduled for August -- the 10th and the 24th -- that would soon change,
the articles implied.

"Sewage-based compost given out by San Francisco is
laced with contaminants such as heavy metals, which exist in comparable
levels in commercially available soil amendments, the City found. ...
SFPUC staff plan to meet publicly with commissioners to seek guidance on
the biosolids compost program, which could be canceled or continued
depending on the public mood."

"The report is expected to be presented to San
Francisco's utility commissioners next month (August). A decision could
then be made on whether to continue the compost program."

In fact, both the newspapers were misled by the PUC staff and their PR maven Tyrone Jue.
The Mayor and the PUC staff appear desperate to avoid any public
showdown on the toxic sludge issue. The August 24th meeting of the
SFPUC commissioners has been canceled, and the August 10th meeting of
the commissioners will not have the much touted sludge tests on its
agenda.

The two San Francisco newspapers fell for a classic government PR
ruse: promise transparency and a public investigation, but then sweep
the issue under the rug and out of the light of day and hope the press
doesn't notice.

Why would the City of San Francisco behave so poorly? Simple. The
sludge issue is a huge embarrassment to the Administration of Gavin
Newsom. He is the front runner in the California Lieutenant Governor's
race, and he has no intention of letting this issue muck that up. The
longer his allies can push this issue down the road, the closer he gets
to his November election. By the time the sludge hits the fan, he and
his closest staff will be in new state offices in Sacramento and the
wrongdoings of the SFPUC and his own Office of Mayor of San Francisco will be a headache for the next Mayor, and for the commissioners he appointed.

The internal documents we are investigating show deep and disturbing collusion among the city government officials in Mayor Gavin Newsom's office, the SFPUC
staff, and industry promoters of growing food in toxic sludge. To
say the least, the city officials have engaged in very bad and deceptive
behavior in their handling of this issue. Announcing an August
hearing of sludge-gate before the five PUC Commissioners, getting this
printed in San Francisco's newspapers as a PR stunt, then making sure
that sludge is off the agenda, is just the latest.

It is clear that far from this issue being decided in the interests
of San Franciscans, the staff of the PUC are working hand in hand with
the powerful national sewage sludge lobby led by the organizations and
individuals belonging to the Water Environment Federation.
The sludge industry wants to take the San Francisco scam -- "It's not
toxic sewage sludge, it's free organic compost, grow your food in it!"
-- and spread it nationwide as the latest way to greenwash toxic sludge
and help the thousands of towns and cities with sewage plants dispose of
their sewage sludge as biosolids fertilizer, out of sight, out of mind, and away from liability.

Stay tuned. Despite the PUC staff's efforts to keep this issue off
the agenda of the appointed commissioners, I will be attending the
August 10th meeting as a public citizen, and putting it on their agenda.
The PUC staff tells me I will have no more than 3 minutes to speak
before the Mayor's Board of Commissioners, but luckily for me I talk
quickly!

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Further

Tom-Joad-like, celebrity chef and Spanish immigrant José Andrés has opened a pop-up kitchen in D.C. to help feed thousands of federal workers being stiffed by the Man-Baby-In-Chief. Andrés' non-profit World Central Kitchen, which has fed millions of disaster victims in Puerto Rico and around the globe, served almost 10,000 meals in two days, with long lines of tearful, angry people grateful for a hot meal. Andrés' homespun, humane mantra: "What's good for you, must be good for all."

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